


one more troubled soul

by marshie_marshmallow



Category: Dragon Quest XI
Genre: Gen, i try to be canon compliant except for when i say 'fuck it' and do what i please
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23222320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marshie_marshmallow/pseuds/marshie_marshmallow
Summary: A young man and young woman, newly come-of-age, set out from their tiny hometown on an adventure. Along the way they get framed as a force of evil, join forces with several colorful characters, lose their home, fight monsters, and save the world.orThe one where Gemma said, "Take me with you."
Relationships: Emma | Gemma & Hero | Luminary (Dragon Quest XI)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 47





	1. Prologue: Cobblestone Tor

**Author's Note:**

> as is tradition for me, a person not very creative with titles, it's just a song lyric fragment. in this case, i pulled it from fall out boy's 'alone together'.

If there were three things Gemma Clifton could say with absolute certainty about Elias Armstrong (and she could say quite a number of things about him but if she had to pick three), it would be these:

  1. He loved high places.
  2. He was oddly fascinated by Yggdrasil whenever he found himself in a good position to view Her.
  3. He was, undeniably, the best fighter in the village.



That last one was by design, though. For some reason, old Chalky had found it necessary to train him in swordplay quite a bit more than the other men of Cobblestone. Nobody was ever able to figure out why but the boy was strong and filled his role in the village watch well.

Ever since she was a child, El had been one of the constants in her life. Her best friend, who was always there to play with her or sneak out to Cobblestone Falls with her and Sandy or retrieve her headscarf from whichever tree it got stuck in this time.

Which it had.

She had somehow lost it to the wind  _ again _ and on their shared birthday, no less! The day they were to climb the Tor and officially come of age! So there El went, up the tree to retrieve it. And there he stood, temporarily mesmerized by Yggdrasil and his temporary height, as he always was.

It took Sandy barking for him to snap out of it and jump back down to return to the piece of cloth. For it was worth, he seemed to find it amusing that  _ of course _ , she would lose her headscarf right before one of the biggest moments of their lives.

And it would surely be one of the biggest. Exciting things didn’t happen to residents of Cobblestone. They just didn’t. You lived as a child until you turned sixteen, climbed the Tor, and were officially considered an adult. Then you kept living and you got married and you had kids and they repeated the cycle. A few lucky people might make the occasional trip out to do trade with other villages but that that was it.

Most folks in Heliodor didn’t realize Cobblestone even existed.

No, exciting things didn’t happen to Cobblestonians.

* * *

After making their way through the crowd of well-wishers (and receiving more than a few teasing comments about marriage, especially from her grandmother), they finally reached the base of the Tor. Much to their shock, the monster problem had reached the Tor, even.

Good thing El was  _ such _ a good combatant. By comparison, Gemma, who had panicked and brought along her wood-choppin’ axe as a means of self-defense, did quite a bit more poorly. She hadn’t thought she’d be using the actual thing as a weapon!

The inside of the Tor wasn’t much better. Apparently, instead of installing a proper bridge, there were just some thin logs tied together that they had to make their way across very carefully. Gemma wondered how deep the water was and how hard it would be to pull her out if anything happened to her.

Still, despite the treacherous terrain, Gemma had to admit… the cave was a lot prettier than she had expected. The water was all so clear and the waterfalls made such a pretty noise… And the carvings were so much more detailed than she’d ever thought. And the terrain wasn’t as difficult as she had been expecting. Years of farmwork had toughened her up for the relatively gentle climb.

Shame about the monsters, though. Especially after little Cole nearly got himself killed by some smogs. Gemma’s poor wood-choppin’ axe was seeing way more combat than it ever should, considering it wasn’t an actual weapon. Not to mention the rain, there to make the rest of the climb way more treacherous and ruin the good view.

And then the condor attacked and Gemma nearly fell off the Tor and El  _ summoned a bolt of lightning _ ? As far as Gemma knew, he had only barely been getting a handle on basic fire magic. So what was  _ that _ ? And that weird birthmark on his hand was glowing, too.

But then the skies cleared, literally, and she could see. Mountains and oceans and endless sky. Until that moment, she never realized how big the world was and Cobblestone…

Cobblestone was so small.

Gemma got so caught up in the view, she didn’t even notice El climbing over very treacherous rocks to stare at Yggdrasil  _ again _ . In the end, they were up for probably far longer than they should have been, examining the view from all angles.

“Hey, El?” she said. “This world’s so big… Are we really supposed to just be happy in Cobblestone?”

He shrugged from where he was picking up random items off the ground again. A man of few words, as always. A strange one, too.

She sighed. “Guess the others are waiting for us. Maybe Grandad knows something about the monsters and your, uh, glowin’ hand.”

* * *

Dunstan didn’t know anything but at least Cole had made it safely out with Sandy. Everyone seemed surprised that Gemma had joined in on the monster fights, given that she wasn’t, well, a fighter. They were all pleased that the delay had been because the duo had simply gotten caught in the view, though, rather than that they had been killed by monsters or the lightning.

“You’re true Cobblestonians now. Only we have the pleasure of looking out over the world of Erdrea in such breathtaking fashion, you know,” Dunstan said. “You’re still young, and the day may yet come when you decide to leave Cobblestone behind. I hope our little ceremony has opened your eyes to a little of what may await you out there.”

Oh, it certainly had. And now Gemma was wondering how she was supposed to be happy only ever seeing Cobblestone.

After that, they were released to go seek out Amber, El’s mother. Along the way, they said hi to every resident of Cobblestone, endured many more marriage comments, climbed the lookout point that El had always loved since it was the highest spot in the village, and stared at the mysterious red door that had been haunting the two of them since childhood.

Seriously. They had tried  _ so many times _ to break past that thing. One time El got his leg stuck trying to squeeze through the bars.

Then they made it back to the Armstrong house and everything seemed to break.

‘Reincarnation of the Luminary?’ The Luminary? Like Erdwin? Was El supposed to save Erdrea? And Chalky had known about this? And what was the significance of that pendant? It looked to be incredibly precious. Gemma was doubtless that it would catch quite a pretty penny.

And now El had to go to Heliodor to see King Carnelian. Meanwhile, Gemma was… to stay behind. In Cobblestone.

Tiny little Cobblestone. Where nothing ever happens.

* * *

“Gemma?”

She turned around. “Can’t sleep either, eh?”

El shook his head.

“You remember this tree, don’t you?”

“It’s in the center of the village.”

“Oi! Don’t be smart! … I got my scarf stuck in it all those years ago… There I was, crying like mad, and there you were running round trying to help me get it down… Heh… Some things never change, eh?”

He just gave a faint smile, one which didn’t quite reach his eyes. Fair enough. His whole life had been turned upside-down.

“You know,” she continued, “I always imagined we’d spend our whole lives right here in Cobblestone. That’s why I was so surprised by what your mum said today. All that stuff about you being the Luminary, that reincarnation thing…” She left the shadow of the tree, so she could see Erdwin’s Lantern. “I remember this story my grandad told me… ‘Once upon a time, long, long ago, the world was terrorized by a horrible monster. But then the Luminary appeared and saved the day. When it was all over, the Luminary turned into a star and he’s been watching over us from up in the heavens ever since.’”

Erdwin’s Lantern seemed brighter tonight. But perhaps that was just Gemma’s imagination.

“How can you be the Luminary, too? I just don’t get it…”

“Neither do I,” he replied.

“I know. That’s what you’re going to Heliodor to find out. I understand, really I do… And I was thinking… we saw how big the world is today… And Cobblestone’s so tiny and… and…” She turned around.  _ “Can I come with you?” _


	2. Act 1: Heliodor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gemma and El receive the world's worst welcome to Heliodor.

It was quite the scene in the Clifton house after Gemma announced her intention to travel to Heliodor as well.

“Just to the capital. Once we’re done there and all this Luminary business is explained, I’ll come right back! I just… I want to see the city for once! Something bigger than Cobblestone! I’m not gonna get a better chance than this, I don’t think! And El’s gonna be there to protect me and- and I’ll bring my axe!”

“That axe is not a weapon,” Dunstan replied.

“It worked well enough back on the Tor!”

In the end, Gemma managed to out-stubborn Dunstan. She was a grown woman now. He’d said as such. Therefore, if she wanted to go to Heliodor, she should get to go to Heliodor.

So, she packed a bit of money, some food supplies, her clothes, her axe, and everything else she’d need for the trip. Her usual dress was changed out for brown trousers, a long-sleeve white shirt and an orange sleeveless tunic cinched at the waist with a fabric belt, a set of fingerless gloves that she hoped would help with her grip when she was in battle, and a sturdier set of boots that lacked the slight heel that her usual pair had. She also packed a blue traveler’s cloak, at her grandmother’s insistence, in case it ‘got cold’ which was silly because it’s not like they were going  _ that _ far north.

There was a fluttery feeling in her chest. She had no idea what to expect from Heliodor. All she knew of big cities were what she’d read in books. It was hard to sleep at all after El had agreed to bring her along.

She was going to go out there and she was going to see  _ the world _ .

* * *

The whole village was there to see the two of them off.

Dunstan seemed proud of El but still wary about letting Gemma go off like that. She just crossed her arms and huffed as he went on and on about the Luminary. Then he muttered something conspiratorially about putting in a good word for Cobblestone.

Sandy whined and Gemma knelt down to scratch her ears.

“I’m not gonna be gone forever,” she said. “You be a good dog and wait here for me, okay? I promise I’ll be back.” She pressed a kiss to the top of Sandy’s head before standing back up.

“We need to go,” El said. He was right. They were burning daylight and Gemma couldn’t wait any longer to get to Heliodor.

That, of course, meant they had to withstand another five minutes of goodbyes and also being handed extra food, in case they hadn’t packed enough. (They had. They had packed plenty.) Once they finally managed to slip away and through the tunnel leading out of Cobblestone, they had to stop to catch their breaths.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the village so excited about something,” she said. “Even when people  _ do _ leave, there’s never this much of fuss. Then again, I guess this whole situation is a bit strange. You being the Luminary and all.”

“Don’t remind me,” he said.

“I wonder. Does this mean it’s your job to save Erdrea, too? To stop the monsters?”

“I don’t know and I’d rather not think about it until we get to Heliodor.”

“Hm. Fair enough. Then, for now, we are just two people on an adventure.”

He grinned and held out his hand. “Let’s go, then.”

And so, hand-in-hand, they ran off. Away from Cobblestone and the mundanity of their lives. Towards Heliodor, adventure, and the great unknown.

* * *

Heliodor was truly the most fascinating place Gemma had ever been to. It was just so…  _ huge _ . How many times over could one fit the entirety of Cobblestone in this city? Even the individual buildings were all large, bigger even than the church back home, which was, by and large, the biggest building in the village.

And the people! All so…  _ fancy _ . She felt out of place with her backwater clothes and accent. It looked like El did, too, though it didn’t stop him from attracting even more attention by, say, climbing onto the roofs.

Eventually, the two wore themselves out and settled down in the inn for the night. The next morning, they headed up to Heliodor Castle bright and early. The guards initially laughed them off but they seemed to change their tune after El produced the pendant he’d been given. Sure, it was a pretty jewel and all but there was something about it that caught their attention specifically. Perhaps the symbol on it? It looked to be some kind of crest.

Regardless, the pair were let inside, with instructions for El to proceed straight to the throne room.

“Guess they don’t want me coming along,” Gemma said.

“Sorry,” he replied.

“Nah. It makes sense. You’re the Luminary and I’m just, you know, a girl from Cobblestone.” She gave him a quick hug. “You go meet with the king. I’ll be waiting right here.”

So El left. Gemma took a chair in the foyer and crossed her legs, avoiding the gaze of the courtiers who she knew were sticking up their nose at her country sensibilities. They all thought themselves  _ so much  _ **_better_ ** than her just because they had more money. She’d like to see any of  _ them _ having to actually work for their food.

She wondered how things were going in the throne room. Was it alright? Did King Carnelian believe El about being the Luminary? What did the necklace mean? There were so many questions that she hoped would have answers by the end of the day.

She watched as a man in silver armor led a large group of soldiers out of the direction of the throne room and her brow furrowed. Where were they going? Had something happened?

She didn’t have much time to wonder before the guards came for her.

* * *

Fantastic.

_ Fantastic. _

Rather than being welcomed to Heliodor and given explanations about  _ any _ of the things they wanted to know, El had been labeled as the ‘Darkspawn’ that was seeking to resurrect some great evil. Gemma, being his traveling companion, had been named as his accomplice. As a result, both had gotten tossed in the deepest cells of the dungeons, with Sir Hendrik (whom Gemma had decided very quickly that she  _ hated _ ) implying that El, at least, would very shortly be executed.

At least they made a new friend, who had dug an escape route that he was willing to let them use. He seemed more interested in El, what with El being the Luminary and all, and didn’t pay as much attention to Gemma. (He was unimpressed, to say the least, by the fact that her only weapon was a wood-choppin’ axe that was starting to show the wear from being used on things other than wood.)

It seemed they couldn’t catch a break, though. Not only were the guards quickly on their tail but when they finally managed to shake them off (via a bridge collapsing under their feet), they ended up being hounded by a  _ dragon _ , of all things. And, once they escaped the dragon, they had to run from  _ more guards _ .

And now they were cornered on a cliff.

“If those guys catch us, we’re dead,” their new friend said.

“You got any ideas for where we can go then?” she shouted.

“Only one other way to go.”

'Other way?' What ‘other way’ was there? Unless...

_ No. _

“You’re insane!” she said.

“He’s right!” El interrupted. “We don’t have time to waste on this.”

The guards chose that moment to appear, keeping the trio well and truly trapped on the cliff. Their choices were to jump to a near-certain death… or  _ definitely _ die at the hands of the Heliodorian soldiers.

So Gemma swallowed, screwed up what little courage she had, and jumped.

* * *

The next thing she was aware of was their new thief friend - Erik - hovering over her.

“Oh, good,” he said, sitting back on his heels. “You’re awake.”

She sat up. “We’re alive?”

“Looks that way. Seems like we didn’t just survive the fall, either. We’re completely unharmed. Well, except for the part where we all passed out for a while. Our pal over there is still unconscious.” He motioned to where El was lying a little ways off, clearly out cold. “It’s not a good idea to hang around in the open like this. Besides the guards, there are monsters in this area.”

“Where do we go then?”

“If I’m remembering right, there’s a church not far from here. Help me carry him, will you? I’ll get his head. You get his feet.”

She stood up and brushed herself off. It was hard to say she particularly trusted the guy they had met in the  _ castle dungeons _ but he  _ had _ gone out of his way to rescue them. Both of them, even, despite the fact that El was clearly more important to him than her. Besides, they were low on allies in Heliodor. Might as well take what they could get.

“I’m Gemma.” She held out her hand. “And my friend here is Elias.”

* * *

The nun, upon seeing two young people approach while carrying their unconscious friend, was quick to let them into a side room with a bed in it. Gemma set to work removing El’s boots and pack while Erik spun a cover story for the nun in the chapel. She nearly removed his overcoat but decided against it.

Instead, she pulled the sole chair in the room up to the bedside and sat down. She really hoped El would wake up. Partly so they could get out of there but mostly just because she was desperately concerned about him. She needed to know the full story of what happened in the throne room and if he knew anything about that man in the silver armor.

“Alright,” Erik said lowly as he stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. “If the nun asks you anything, we’re from Ashworth, we were hoping to reach the Costa Valor via the Manglegrove, and Elias here took a pretty bad beating from some of the monsters while we were traveling. Except, as far as she’s concerned, his name’s Jonathan. It’s not a great time for us to be going and giving our real names out to folks. I’m Ethan and you’re Emily.”

“We’re…  _ all _ from Ashworth in this story?”

“I mean, do  _ you _ wanna explain that we only just met? She’s too concerned with his well-being to try to poke holes in our cover story and, besides, I’m good at patching them up when people find them.” He pressed his back to one of the walls and slid down until he was sitting.

It wasn’t a bad cover story when she thought about it. Ashworth’s location, northwest of the capital, made it perfectly plausible that they’d be trying to reach the Costa Valor by the overland route. Reaching a port would be far more hassle, after all. Additionally, the town lacked any major defining features and was just another farming village. It would be easy to spin any old childhood tale - even ones that had really happened - and make it sound like it had occurred in Ashworth.

So all there was left to do was wait for El to wake up.

It was an awkward silence in the room for a while after that. Gemma busied herself with reading the books on the shelf - most of which were boring religious texts but there was a thick book of fables as well - while Erik made sure all the gear was in good condition. Beyond the occasional comment about the nun’s opinion on sharpening weapons in the church or making remarks about the state of Gemma’s axe, they didn’t talk.

After about two hours, the nun came in to provide them with food. Basic porridge with some fruit, a bit of bread each, and a pitcher of water but Gemma hadn’t eaten since breakfast at the inn, which felt like a lifetime ago already, so she was quick to dig in. Erik seemed pretty pleased by the presence of food as well and it was then that she noticed how thin and pale he was.

“... How long were you down there?” she asked once the nun had excused herself.

“What?”

“The dungeons. How long?”

He paused, clearly thinking. “I don’t know. Your sense of time gets pretty messed up down there but… I’d say maybe a year or so? Maybe a little less?”

“That’s a long time.”

He shrugged before taking a bite of bread. “They  _ wanted _ for me to spend the rest of my life rotting in there,” he said around his mouthful. “All in all, I got out pretty fast.”

Part of her wanted to scold him for talking while eating but she decided against it. They could table  _ that _ discussion for now. She contemplated asking what he was arrested for but that seemed a little too close to prying, given that they had just met. Instead, she chose to shove more porridge in her mouth.

By Yggdrasil, she just was not good at any of this.

* * *

By the time El woke up, Gemma had managed to work her way through half the fables in the book. It was nearing evening and her anxiety had been slowly mounting. Just about the only thing keeping them safe was the guards’ assumption that they wouldn’t be so brazen as to hide out in a church like this.

“Ugh…” he moaned as he sat up.

“Are you okay?” Gemma said as she poured what was left in the pitcher of water into a cup and handed it to him.

“You know when you’re tired and you take a nap but you somehow wake up feeling worse than you did before you fell asleep? I feel like that.” He then downed the entire cup in one go.

“I was starting to worry you wouldn’t wake up at all,” Erik said. “You’ve been out cold ever since we jumped. The two of us had to carry you all the way here. Anyway, we’re probably the most wanted people in Heliodor by now. Which means we need to get moving as fast as possible.”

As El reoriented himself and got his boots back on, Gemma and Erik set to cleaning up after themselves and packing away all the gear. On their way out, they stopped to thank the nun, who then proceeded to warn them of a trio of ‘dangerous criminals’ that had escaped the capital and were at large. Erik was quick to grab the opportunity, gently prying for more info on the situation.

According to the nun, the guards were on high alert, which wasn’t surprising, and that Hendrik fellow was blocking the road to Cobblestone, in case they tried to return home.

Oh.

_ Oh no. _

**_Cobblestone._ **

Once the three of them were safely outside and whispering to each other in a corner of the fenced-off area, under the shade of a tree, she allowed herself to briefly  _ panic _ .

“Do you reckon they’ve done anything to Cobblestone?”

“Most likely,” El said, chewing his lip. “King Carnelian sent a bunch of soldiers there, led by… I think his name was Jasper?”

“Jasper…” Erik frowned. “You don’t live in the city for any length of time without hearing of him and Hendrik. They’re said to be two of the greatest knights Heliodor’s ever seen, if not the greatest, which makes getting you guys home... difficult. Slipping past either of them would be impossible, let alone taking them on. And Hendrik’s said to be the stronger one, too.”

“So what do we do?” Gemma asked.

“Backroads.” He crossed his arms. “To reach the southern mountains, your best path would probably be… through the Manglegrove. It’s reasonably quick, the entrance isn’t far from here, and they’re less likely to look for us there, given the reputation that it has.”

“Let’s go then,” El said. He seemed a little too ready to journey through a place called the  _ Mangle _ grove.

“Ah… Not so fast. I’ve got something I need to retrieve from Heliodor first. Once I’ve got it, we make our way south.”

“You want us to go…  _ back _ … into Heliodor?” Gemma asked.

“Just into the downtown area. We run in, grab it, and leave. Quick and easy. Are you coming or what?”

“Sure,” El said.

_ “What?” _ Gemma asked, incredulous.

“Gemma, we don’t have a lot of options here. Or allies, for that matter.”

“I know but the guards are  _ looking for us _ .”

“There aren’t many guards in that area,” Erik said. “And their job is to guard the entrance to uptown. It’s not to search for fugitives or they’d have to arrest half the population of downtown. But… it’d be a good idea to hide your face. Do you have a cloak or something with you?”

Gemma wanted to protest some more but it was clear that El intended on going with Erik. Not wanting to be left behind at the church, she reluctantly put her cloak on and pulled the hood over her head. She considered this to be a terrible idea that would almost surely get all of them captured again quickly and executed but, damn it, if El went down, she would go down with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Elias, Gemma, and Erik join forces!


	3. Act 1: On The Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being hunted is not fun, especially when it's also raining.

Downtown Heliodor was a far cry from the uptown area. The buildings were ramshackle, garbage littered the streets, and none of the people looked all that happy to be there. Erik warned them to keep their belongings close and their hoods up.

“Won’t we stand out, walking around like this in broad daylight?” she asked, tugging her hood further up.

“Not in the downtown, we won’t,” Erik replied. “Besides, it’ll be getting dark soon enough.”

“So?” El asked. “Why are we here?”

Erik then launched into an explanation about how he and his partner, Derk, had stolen the Red Orb of Heliodor and hidden it in the downtown. All they had to do was grab it and then run.

It should have been so easy. However, they did not have that kind of luck, so instead the stupid Orb was missing. Erik screamed bloody murder and then they were on a trip to hunt down Derk.

According to an innkeeper named Ruby, he was uptown. Gemma hoped this would convince Erik to give it up, that it wasn’t worth the risk, but apparently not. She wanted to scream.

“I _need_ that Orb,” Erik said.

“For _what_? We’re risking our necks here!”

“It’s- none of your business. Now how do we get past the guard...?”

In the end, they found a guy digging a tunnel to the uptown area. El traded him a piece of flintstone - one of those random things he collected - for the right to use the tunnel. Then they were sneaking around alleys and climbing up onto roofs all to make it to the richest part of Heliodor - and way too close to the castle for Gemma’s comfort.

Finally, they met Derk, who informed them that the Red Orb was in the Kingsbarrow. On the Emerald Coast. Which was past Cobblestone. So they could have been traveling home that whole time.

Gemma was so tired.

* * *

It was raining in the Manglegrove. Gemma’s boots and the bottom of her trousers were soon caked with mud, making her extremely glad she had foregone wearing a dress on this adventure. The monsters in the area didn’t help matters, either. By the time they found a campsite, she was exhausted, filthy, and hungry.

They didn’t have much in the way of food supplies. What they had packed for the journey had been lost when they were thrown in the dungeon. All they had was a bit of food the nun had sent with them when they left the church, which they split up between them.

Erik gave El some kind of mini-forge which El took to like a fish to water. Given how much time he used to spend at the smith’s back in Cobblestone, that wasn’t surprising. Up until the Luminary revelation, everyone had assumed he would take up an apprenticeship after their coming-of-age ceremony. Now he could combine smithing with one of his other favorite hobbies: picking up random objects off the ground and shoving them in his pockets.

“Hey, El?” Gemma asked from where she sat on a very wet log as he checked out the forge and Erik tried to make sure the fire didn’t die. “How long has it been since we left Cobblestone?”

“Less than a week.”

“Oh. Feels like forever.”

“I know.”

Erik interrupted them with a swear as the fire continued to fizzle out despite his best efforts. “It would be a great time to have a tent right now,” he muttered.

Right. The tent. They’d had to leave it behind in the Heliodor dungeons because carrying too much stuff would weigh them down during their escape. They didn’t have a whole lot on them as a result. Now that they’d eaten the food they had, all that remained was their weapons, two or three sets of clothes each (except for Erik, who seemed to only have what he was wearing), a bit of money, some medicinal supplies they had picked up since their escape, and El’s bag of, er, smithing materials.

“We’re just gonna have to sleep in the rain,” El asked. “It’s not like it’ll kill us.”

“I mean, we could break into the cabin over there.”

“No.”

“I don’t think anyone’s home.”

“ _No_.”

“Fine! Then we’ll sleep in the rain!”

Gemma was initially opposed to the concept of breaking into a building for any reason but, as she tried to sleep on the log to avoid having to get on the ground, she thought that maybe whoever lived there surely wouldn’t have noticed if they had just slept on the floor or something.

The next morning, they continued on their way, considerably wetter and more miserable. But first, they had to deal with some mess involving the local woodcutter being turned into a dog, a wimpy monster, and the bridge being smashed up. That didn’t do anything to help the situation. At least the woodcutter gave them a good meal while he fixed up the bridge.

* * *

The moment they reached Cobblestone, it seemed as if the world stopped moving.

Gemma didn’t remember much between the initial wave of shock and whenever it was that she ended up in the center of town. Only hands on her back and tears in her eyes. They must have been Erik’s, because El was completely lost to the world at that moment, eyes staring blankly at something neither of them could see.

Gemma knelt on the road in front of the ruined shop, shaking with sobs, while Erik sat next to her, clearly unsure of what to do. And, really, what _could_ he do? There’s nothing he could say and no action he could take that would soften the blow of her home being _razed to the ground_

And then El was back with them and talking about things that just didn’t make sense to Gemma. He was saying that he went back in time? Spoke to the long-dead Chalky and younger versions of both her and _himself_?

Once he was done, Erik nodded. “These falls are on the Emerald Coast, right?”

El nodded.

“So’s the Kingsbarrow. You know what they say: two birds, one stone. Once we find whatever your grandad left and gotten the Orb back, we can figure out our next move.”

“We… we should look around the town,” Gemma said. “Maybe there’s some stuff that survived… that we can use.”

“Hm… I don’t like the idea of spending too long here but you’re right. We don’t have a whole lot in the way of supplies.”

Searching around rustled up a few blankets that needed a wash and a bit of mending, a couple of carrots and turnips that escaped the destruction of the storehouses, and the store awning, which Gemma figured she could repurpose into their new tent. Other than that, everything had been thoroughly destroyed or ransacked. Even the church had been raided and its doors had been broken down.

They were checking the back area, around the path leading up to the Tor when a barking sound broke the silence, growing closer.

“Did you hear that?” Gemma asked.

“It sounded like a dog,” Erik said.

“It couldn’t be…” El muttered.

“SANDY!”

Sure enough, there she was, running towards them from the direction of the Tor. Gemma couldn’t help it - she broke into a run. Sandy was all too happy to tackle her to the ground, nosing at her neck and whining.

“Ha! You waited for me, didn’t you? Just like I said. You stayed here and waited.”

Was she starting to cry again? Maybe she was. Just a little.

“Is this your dog?” Erik asked, arms crossed.

She nodded as she sat back up. “This is Sandy. She’s been with me ever since El and I were kids.”

“You know that a dog’s not gonna help us stay hidden any, right?”

“I’m not leaving her behind! Besides, she’s a smart dog. She can be quiet if I tell her to.”

He sighed. “I hope you’re right. I doubt there’s anything I could say to even slightly convince you not to bring her along and, besides, if having her with you makes you happy then… Who am I to stop you?”

El, standing to his right, put a hand on his shoulder and smiled. Erik just hunched his shoulders tighter and stared at the ground to his left.

“It’s getting late,” he continued, “but this is probably one of the last places we should be spending the night. The faster we get moving, the more distance we put between us and the Heliodorian soldiers.”

Gemma almost wanted to argue that point - she was tired both physically and emotionally - but he was right and, besides, she didn’t particularly want to spend the night in the ruins of her home.

“I think there’s a campsite on the Emerald Coast,” El said quietly. “That’s where we’ve gotta go anyway, so we can spend the night there.”

* * *

It was long past dark, nearing midnight or so, by the time they reached the Falls. They picked up the box Chalky had left for them and made camp on the coast when the moon was high in the sky. By the light of the moon and the campfire, El read out the contents of the letters to Gemma and Erik.

“You’re… the prince of Dundrasil?” Erik asked. “Wow.”

Gemma was silent. She had heard, vaguely, about the fall of Dundrasil and she knew it had happened around the time they were born but it had never occurred to her to connect those two things. That her best friend since childhood was a prince of a lost kingdom seemed just absurd to her. Chalky had known this the whole time? He obviously must not have told Amber, either, or she would have given them that information alongside the Luminary bit.

“So this Keystone will get us out of Heliodor?” Erik continued

“I suppose it must,” El said, holding it up to the firelight and watching the light dance off of it.

“Great. Once we’ve got the Orb, let’s get the hell out of here.”

El volunteered for the first watch. Though they all doubted the soldiers would be keeping the search so late at night, it didn’t hurt to be safe. Erik conked out pretty quickly but Gemma found it harder to sleep, one arm thrown lazily over Sandy.

Her mind was racing with so many thoughts. Her home had been burned to the ground. Her family - minus Sandy - was probably dead. Her best friend wasn’t just the Luminary but also the prince of a lost kingdom.

If Dundrasil hadn’t fallen, he’d probably never have met her. He could have easily left her behind in Cobblestone, too, to face the same fate as everyone else. And Erik had been sent by some Seer to help the Luminary, specifically. He only broke her out because she was El’s friend. Both of them were sent by some higher power or another on this quest to do… something.

Whatever it was, Gemma hadn’t been intended to be a part of it. In the grand scheme of things, she was insignificant.

Sandy whined, sensing her melancholy mood, before licking her nose.

“I’m fine, girl,” she whispered. “I promise.”

* * *

The next morning, it was back on the road and into the Kingsbarrow to reclaim the Red Orb. Gemma didn’t understand Erik’s obsession with it. Surely there were plenty of valuable things he could steal that _wouldn’t_ get so much attention and draw a link between them and Heliodor?

The guards had beaten them here, technically, though they were dead. Not that this was much comfort since it meant that _they_ would have to deal with whatever it was that was down there. Which turned out to be a pair of grim gryphons, much sturdier monsters than anything any of them had faced up to that point. Still, not tough enough, it seemed.

Weird that those things had killed an entire band of soldiers but lost to three teenagers and a dog.

After that, the group was running out of the Kingsbarrow and booking it for the Door of Departure. Not fast enough, however, as the forces of Heliodor had caught up to them. The last thing Gemma saw before the doors closed and the teleportation circle sent them away was Hendrik charging at them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sandy joins the party!
> 
> This ended up shorter than I wanted - I prefer to average my chapters around 3k - but a good portion of my first draft was just straight up rehashing game text and that's not a whole lot of fun to read. Also, the only reason Sandy wasn't in the first chapter is that I couldn't figure out how to insert a _dog_ into a _prison escape._


	4. Act 1: Hotto

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party meets a set of very strange sisters.

Wherever they were when they came out of the Door's other end, the first thing the group noticed was that it was a _lot_ warmer than Heliodor. Positively boiling, in fact. Gemma was quick to shove her cloak back into her pack and push her sleeves up to her elbows. Sandy whined, her unprotected feet hurt by the heated ground.

“We’ll have to carry her,” Gemma decided.

“Carry… the dog,” Erik said.

“Sandy,” she and El said, simultaneously.

“And yes,” she continued. “She can’t walk on this ground. It’ll burn her paws.”

Erik crossed his arms. “This is gonna be hard to deal with, I see. Guess it’s up to me and El to watch your back since you won’t be able to fight like that.”

“Sorry about this.”

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s just find a landmark or something so we can figure out where we are.”

Landmarks weren’t particularly hard to find, as it turned out. Once they were out of the canyon that the Door of Departure was situated in, they found themselves staring at a lava stream flowing directly into the ocean.

In all her years, Gemma never thought she’d be staring at an honest-to-goodness _volcano_. She had read about Mount Huji in books (well, one book) but that they were _looking at it_ now… It was stranger than anything her mind had conjured up.

“Right,” El said, checking the map. “If we’re here, then the actual town of Hotto is… just west of here. Not far at all.”

“Oh good,” Gemma said. “We can finally restock on supplies… Maybe spend the night at the inn which will give me time to work on mending the blankets and turning the awning into a proper tent… I hope they’ve got a way for me to do laundry.”

“We _need_ to keep moving,” Erik said. “We’re wanted.”

“Erik,” El said, “I think we’ve got some time before they find us. We can do some laundry.”

* * *

Hotto was incredibly different from Heliodor. Not least of all due to the residents’ strange speaking pattern. At least the ground was cool enough in this area that she could set Sandy down.

When the man running the bathhouse offered them a free visit, Gemma was all too happy to take him up on it. Erik, too, despite his initial reluctance, agreed that they could at least take the time to bathe.

Sandy chose to stay with El, who was trailing behind, while Gemma and Erik went up the hill towards the bathhouse. Inside, a young girl in a red dress was questioning the owner of the sauna. Something about another girl. Her little sister by the sounds of it. Whatever she was after, it seemed the proprietor of the place was of no help to her and she left.

There was only one other guest present in the women’s room, so Gemma was able to sit back and soak without interruption. How long she was in there, she couldn’t say. However, when she finally walked out, she found El and Erik already dressed and waiting impatiently for her, with a little girl standing by them.

“Mind telling me what’s going on here?” she asked.

“The girl who was sniffing around here earlier?” Erik said. “Yeah, we found her sister.”

* * *

The little girl, Connie, was looking for her _father_ , as it turned out. She bore no relation to the girl in red and the missing sister was someone else entirely. When this fact came to light, Gemma put her hands on her hips and frowned at the boys.

“You _said_ you found her sister. I thought you had made sure of that, instead of jumping to conclusions.”

“Sorry…” El muttered.

“At least one of you has some brains,” the girl said. “I feel sorry for you, having to deal with such idiots.”

“Hey!” Erik said.

“If the shoe fits,” Gemma said. “It’s not like I was in there with them when they found her in the men’s bath. I assumed they had already asked about it before I joined them.”

The girl in red almost looked amused before her face dropped again. She introduced herself as Veronica Clemens and demanded their help in tracking down her sister, starting with getting into the bar she had been kicked out of earlier.

* * *

The crypt where the monsters were hiding was filled with floor traps. Trying to climb out with Sandy was easier said than done and Gemma resolved to find some way to deal with difficult terrain when they got back to Hotto. Eventually, they managed to make their way to a shrine in the back of the crypt, where they found the elusive Serena Clemens, who in fact looked a fair bit older than her sister, taking a nap on the floor.

Literally just taking a nap. In the middle of a monster den. She had laid down on the floor and decided it was a good place to sleep.

Veronica explained something about monsters stealing her magic and draining away her age so she now looked like a seven-year-old, rather than the seventeen-year-old that she was in reality. Then they were being dragged off further into the crypt to help recover said magic and, hopefully, said age.

Gemma had to bow out of the ‘fighting’ part halfway through the battle with the blue thing that called itself Jarvis when her axe finally buckled under the strain she had been putting on it and the blade snapped off the handle. At least Serena proved to be quite helpful. She couldn’t do much beyond provide healing but it meant that they weren’t relying entirely on El’s weak Heal spell or the medicine Gemma carried around.

Veronica, she had to assume, made for a more impressive combatant with her magic powers. Simply whacking the enemies with her staff wasn’t all that helpful.

By the time the stupid thing died, Gemma was tired. She had to wonder if these endurance runs through monster-infested locations would be a regular thing. She hoped not. They weren’t very fun, even if they tended to be filled with some nice loot.

* * *

Back in Hotto, Gemma was put up in a room at the inn with Serena and Veronica. There wasn’t much conversation to be had, though, as everyone was rather exhausted and fell asleep rather quickly.

The next morning, the twins - apparently on some great mission to protect and guide the Luminary - shared what info they had. A tip from the man they rescued from the crypt, Noah, told them to head west towards Gallopolis, in search of a branch of Yggdrasil.

“So this… stick… is the only lead we have?” Gemma asked once they left the bar.

“Seems that way,” El said.

“... I hope that it doesn’t end up being useless and leave us to have to start over from the beginning.”

“Don’t. Jinx it,” Veronica said.

“Either way, it’s a start,” El said. “Even if the branch is useless itself, maybe we can learn something about how they got it. We’ll need to head for Gallopolis just as soon as we’re ready… Let's see, we need to stock up on food and medical supplies, Gemma needs a new axe...”

Gemma counted off on her fingers. “We need to do laundry because our clothes are all disgusting. I need to mend those blankets. I also need to work on the tent though I guess that’s one not _so_ important right now. Sleeping in a tent would be like sleeping in a furnace."

El frowned. "We lost our cookware back in Heliodor. I don't suppose you two have cookware we can use or will we need to buy some?”

“Oh, that’s no worry!” Serena said. “We also have some spices, though we needed to buy food too.”

"Oh, and… I need to see about Sandy," Gemma added. "There’s gotta be a way to make carrying her around easier. Maybe something we can do so she can walk on the ground safely.”

“Is that everything?" El asked. "Alright, we should pool our money. You know, make a group fund that we can use to buy what we need.”

“I hate to break it to you but I don’t really have any gold on me,” Erik said. “Sure, I got _your_ coin purses back but mine was long since gone by the time we got out of there.”

“We have some money we can add,” Veronica said. “Arboria is so isolated that we don’t use currency the way the rest of the world does. In fact… we don’t really have shops and stuff like that either. So a lot of the gold that Arboria _does_ have was sent with us.”

“You don’t use money?” Erik seemed more than a bit confused by that.

“Everything is communal, you see,” Serena said. “It’s more of one giant temple than a regular city, after all. We had a rather… interesting time of it, having to adjust to how the rest of the world works. Personally, I’ve found that shopping is rather fun. Especially for clothes. You don’t realize how boring it is wearing nothing but identical robes until you see how other people dress.”

“You ditched whatever outfits you were sent off with for your current gear as soon as possible, huh?”

“Absolutely,” Veronica said. “The point is: we’ve got money to add.”

“Brilliant,” El said. “I will say, the Fun-Size Forge should do wonders for saving us money where weapons and armor are concerned. I can get most of the materials I need in the wild and... actually, I think most armorers would be willing to purchase items back from us if they’re in decent condition. We may be able to forge things to sell, too.”

"Oh, that'd be helpful!" Gemma said.

“Okay... We'll need to head back to the inn and do a count of our total money, then we split up. I'll handle armor and weaponry. Gemma, you're in charge of washing and mending. Can anyone help with that?”

“I can,” Serena said. “My sewing is decent enough, I think.”

“Then I guess that leaves me and Erik in charge of food and medical supplies?” Veronica asked. “Hm... Alright, I suppose. The faster we’re ready, the faster we can leave.”

* * *

Preparations took pretty much the whole day, so the party was forced to hole up in the inn for another night before setting out the next day. That was fine. It gave Serena and Gemma time to work on mending the clothes and blankets that had taken all day to dry.

“I’m afraid my skills aren’t nearly as good as yours,” Serena said.

Gemma glanced over. Serena’s stitches were passable but still quite a bit sloppier than her own.

“I’d help but I’m afraid I’m useless at that sort of thing,” Veronica said, flopped on her bed.

“She’s _far_ too impatient to sit still and sew,” Serena added in a mock whisper.

“I heard that!”

She giggled. “Needlework has never been my strongest suit either, to be honest. It took a lot of practice just for me to be where I am now.”

“So long as it holds the fabric together, it doesn’t have to look pretty,” Gemma said. “I don’t think we need to be caring much about appearances right now.”

“I suppose not. But enough of that. How did you come to be traveling with the Luminary?”

“Not much of a story there. We grew up together, you see. We even share a birthday, though we’re from two different families.”

“That’s weird,” Veronica said. “Sharing a birthday is nothing new to either of us, of course, but sharing it with someone you’re not even _related_ to?”

“We always thought it was fun. Anyway, about… oh, it’s not even been that long but I’ve already lost track of the days. It’s just been so… _wild_ that I can’t keep up. The point is, we came of age recently and that’s when we found out El’s the Luminary. He was told to go to Heliodor because there was a letter left by his birth mom saying he should see the king. I’d never been outside of Cobblestone either so I went with him. Then the king threw him in the dungeon and me with him and we met Erik and he helped us break out and a whole bunch of other stuff happened and now we’re here and Cobblestone is…” She trailed off.

“Cobblestone is… what?” Serena asked gently.

“They destroyed it.” Her hands clenched into fists around the blanket she was mending. “Heliodor. They took cannons and burned it all to the ground. Just because El grew up there.”

Veronica sat up. “They did _what_?”

“That’s awful…” Serena said.

“It was led by a knight by the name of Jasper. That’s what El said. He’s the one the king sent to destroy it.” Her shoulders were shaking now but it was different than before. They weren’t shaking because she was crying.

No. She was _angry_.

“I hate him,” she muttered. “I hate all of them. I don’t care where they got these stupid ideas about the ‘Darkspawn.’ I don’t care if they _think_ they’re doing the right thing by trying to get rid of El. Cobblestone _didn’t deserve that_. I don’t care what happens. I’ll never forgive Heliodor.”

“That’s understandable,” Veronica said.

“El and I… we have nowhere else to go. We’re all that’s left of Cobblestone. Us and Sandy. I don’t… I never wanted to get caught up in some quest to save the world or whatever it is we’re doing. I wanted to see Heliodor and then I wanted to go home. But now I _can’t_.”

Serena set her work aside and wrapped her arms around Gemma’s shoulders. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said. “I don’t know why the Luminary was reborn or why Heliodor thinks he’s some bringer of disaster or why they would destroy your home because of it… but we’re going to find out. I’m sure everything will be clear once we get to Yggdrasil.”

“And nobody’s saying you can’t stay mad at Heliodor,” Veronica added. “If they did anything like that to Arboria, I’d be pretty angry, too. Hell, who knows? It might be that they just _are_ an enemy.”

“No, I’m sure it’s just some manner of misunderstanding-”

“Can’t be sure of that.” Veronica yawned. “It’s getting late and we need to get up early tomorrow.”

Gemma nodded, setting the blanket down. “You’re right. We… we need to sleep.”

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Serena asked.

“I’m fine.”

As Serena blew out the candles and climbed into her own bed, Gemma thought that she really wasn’t alright but hey. Maybe she could learn to be. So long as there were still people out there who didn’t hate them, it’d all work out, wouldn’t it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Veronica and Serena join the party!
> 
> Gemma voice: god I hope dungeon-crawling isn't gonna be a regular thing


	5. Act 1: Gallopolis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party goes looking for the Rainbough.

Gemma had thought Hotto was warm but Gallopolis, somehow, was worse. She was glad that they had at least resolved the issue of protecting Sandy from the elements so she didn’t have to carry her.

“Okay, but she looks _ridiculous_ ,” Erik said.

“I think the little boots are adorable!” Serena said.

“The boots, maybe,” Veronica replied. “The goggles, on the other hand…”

“They protect her eyes!” Gemma protested from where she was kneeling by the dog. “And the boots protect her feet!”

Sandy thumped her tail against the ground and whined.

“Aw, you’re hot, aren’t you, girl? Don’t worry, we’re… El, how far are we from the city?”

“Given the lack of any distinctive landmarks?” El said. “I’m not sure. But we should be getting close, I think. Provided we haven’t actually been going in circles this time.”

“Don’t say that,” Erik said. “I don’t want to die of heatstroke in the desert.”

“Okay, then… In that case, we are probably close to the city. Probably.”

“... Great.”

* * *

By the time they reached the actual city, Gemma felt like she was about to die of heat exhaustion. The others all looked to similarly be in varying states of overheating. Serena had tied her hair up to keep it off her neck, Veronica was fanning herself with her hand, El had removed his overcoat (not that the black turtleneck on its own was much better), and Erik looked vaguely on the verge of passing out.

At least the interiors of the buildings were marginally cooler than outside in the direct sunlight.

“Right,” El said as they sheltered in a clothing shop that the owner was nice enough to let them loiter in for a bit. “Let’s take care of what we need in town, get the Yggdrasil branch-”

“And then immediately leave for somewhere cooler,” Erik finished.

“Yeah. I’d like to stick around for a bit if we could but it’s not practical for… multiple reasons.” He turned his head. “What’s got your attention over there, Serena?”

Sheepishly, Serena, who had been standing by a display rack, turned around to motion to some sort of dancer’s costume.

“I thought it was cute,” she muttered. “And it looks like it’d be more comfortable in this heat than what I’m wearing…”

“If anyone in Arboria saw you wearing that, they’d die of a heart attack,” Veronica said. “... You should buy it.”

“Can we afford it, though?”

El rummaged around in his pocket to produce the crumpled piece of paper that he had been using to keep track of their funds, then squinted at the listed price.

“Um… We can if you _really_ want to… But only if you’re absolutely certain you want it, cause I’m not taking the money out of the budget otherwise.”

Serena paused, then her voice dropped to a whisper. “I _do_ really want it…”

And that was how the party left the shop with the costume in tow.

“It felt wrong to hang out in there without buying anything anyway,” Veronica said.

* * *

They were almost to the palace when El stopped to glance at a signboard, ripped one of the papers off, then shoved everyone into an alley.

“What’s wrong?” Gemma asked once they were all crammed in. “You seem worried.”

“It's a wanted poster,“ El said in a hushed tone. “For the Darkspawn.”

Erik froze. “Shit. Word’s already gotten here?”

“Well, at least it’s a description rather than an actual picture?” Gemma said, glancing at the paper. “Easier for us to brush off as a coincidence.”

“True,” Veronica said. “ _And_ they’re specifically looking for a group of three. There’s five of us and Sandy and they didn’t give descriptions of Erik and Gemma, either. Not to say that that makes us safe but… less suspicious, I think. They don’t know the group’s gotten bigger yet.”

“Well, I think they know about Sandy by now,” El said. “Either this poster was made before they caught up to us on the Coast or they just didn’t consider it worth mentioning that we also have a dog with us.”

“It’s probably the first one,” Erik said. “They must have sent word to the rest of the inner sea the moment we broke out.”

“It’s settled, then,” El said. “We get the branch and get moving before we’re noticed. Hopefully, this branch will give us some clue about how to reach Yggdrasil, so we actually get an idea of what we’re doing.”

* * *

“I don’t get it,” Gemma said as she lay on her bed in the inn. “Even if we cover for him this time, if El wins in Prince Faris’ place, then surely the people will expect him to compete again next year? He can only hide this for so long… Wouldn’t it be better to just be honest?”

“That’s _his_ problem,” Veronica said. “Though I guess he’d probably strongarm someone else to take over for him again. But sooner or later the lies will catch up to him and it’ll be none of our concern when they do.”

“It seems pretty stupid to me.”

“ _He_ seems stupid.”

“The Great Sylvando was fun to watch, wasn’t he?” Serena interrupted, apparently tired of quite literally being stuck in the middle of their conversation. Her bed was the center one.

Gemma chewed her lip. “I can’t even imagine how he managed to do half those things.”

“I’ll admit, getting to see that for free wasn’t so bad,” Veronica added. “He was certainly impressive.”

“As you can imagine, circuses don’t generally come to Arboria,” Serena said. “That was my first time seeing anything of the like.”

“They don’t show up in backwater farming villages either,” Gemma said. “So I’d never been either.”

“We should come back when we’re all done with what we’re doing. It’d be fun, wouldn’t it? Though I suppose Sylvando wouldn’t be performing then… He was a guest performer, wasn’t he?”

“Surely he’s gotta do shows other places, too.”

“I suppose! If we could manage to get to wherever he was performing… It must seem silly, me talking about all this. We don’t even know how long we’re going to be traveling. I mean, who knows what’ll happen even after we reach Yggdrasil?”

“I think it’s nice… I don’t know what I’ll be doing when all this is over. Guess it depends a lot on what El does. But I think coming back here wouldn’t be so bad.” She paused. “We’ll have to remember to dress appropriately next time, though.”

Serena laughed and Gemma thought it sounded beautiful.

* * *

The next day was the Sand National, in which El was competing in place of Prince Faris. Another one of the racers had also been forced to drop out due to an injury, so racing in _his_ place was… Sylvando. On a horse that was wearing giant pink feathers.

“I can’t say I was expecting Mr. Sylvando to take part in the Sand National,” Serena said.

She was sporting her new dancer’s outfit and, as a result, showing off a fair bit more skin than before. Gemma was finding it oddly distracting for reasons she couldn’t place.

“His horse is certainly… something,” Erik said.

“Well, he’ll be easy to tell apart from the other racers,” Gemma said.

A horn signaled the start of the race and the racers were off.

“Oh, I’m nervous,” she muttered. “He’s a good horseman but he’s never _raced_ before.”

“We have too much riding on this for him to lose,” Erik said.

“Gosh, would you look at Mr. Sylvando go?” Serena said. “He’s quite something, isn’t he?”

“Well, uh, _the prince_ is keeping pretty close,” Veronica said, visibly annoyed that she couldn’t say out loud that it was El who was racing.

“Yes, that’s true. Oh, he’s pulling ahead, I think. No, wait never mind. Sylvando’s in the lead again. Oh, it’s hard to keep track…”

“You’re telling me,” Gemma grumbled.

In the end, Sylvando won but El came just close enough that it could be brushed off as a fluke. Hopefully, that would be enough to please Faris. Certainly, his undeserved reputation would remain intact. That was all he needed, right?

* * *

Of _course_ , something else would come up at the last possible second.

“So we have to go fight a giant desert monster now?” Erik said. “Great. We are spending _way_ more time here than I would like.”

“That _stupid_ prince!” Veronica huffed. “Still, we can’t leave these people to be terrorized by this thing… And if he gets himself ripped apart by a monster, we can’t get the Rainbough.”

“Uh… this thing has killed some of Gallopolis’ best knights, right?” Gemma said. “How are _we_ supposed to fight it?”

El put a hand on her shoulder. “... Probably with a lot of difficulty.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it!”

He grinned.

“Aren’t you worried at _all_?” Erik asked.

“Oh, I’m actually freaking out right now,” El replied. “I’ve been running mental lists on our current equipment and praying that we can somehow stand up to this thing.”

“I’m still trying to get adjusted to my new axe…” Gemma muttered. “It’s a lot heavier than my old one.”

“That would be because it’s actually built for combat,” Erik said.

“I _know_ that. I’ve got this bow now, too, but I’ve not trained very much with that, either.”

“I guess you could stay behind…” El said.

“No.”

“Alright.”

She was worried, of course. She was _incredibly_ worried. But, damn it, she refused to potentially outlive El. Either she died first or they died together.

They were all that was left of home and she couldn’t bear to be the last one standing.

* * *

Sylvando was... _interesting_ , to say the least. He’d forced himself along, sure, but at least he was helpful. He was probably one of the most skilled swordsmen she’d ever seen, to be honest. Leagues ahead of El, not that she’d ever say that out loud.

After a long march through the desert sands, they caught up with Faris’ group at a campsite and set up for the night. She had been tempted to bring her sewing supplies just in the event that this happened but all the blankets were finished and the soon-to-be tent was too unwieldy to carry on a monster hunt. Not until it was actually fully transformed into a tent, anyway.

Instead, she contented herself with sitting down on a crate and slowly trying to remove as much sand from her clothing as she could without stripping down completely. Which was basically a futile effort but at least she got some of it out of her boots.

“So two boys, three girls, and their dog out on a lovely adventure together, eh?” Sylvando said as he scratched under a very pleased Sandy’s chin. “But what kind of adventure, I wonder? Come on, spill the beans…”

“To be perfectly honest, we’re none too sure ourselves just yet,” Serena said, glancing back and forth between him and Gemma, who was now bent over trying to get the sand out of her hair. “But for the moment, we’re trying to get to Yggdrasil. We need to understand more about the mysteries surrounding the Luminary, you see. It’s all to do with a horrible being called the Dark One. He wants to bring death and destruction to the world… and we want to stop him.”

“Alright, bigmouth!” Veronica butted in. “That’s enough! You don’t need to tell the Jolly Jester our whole life story! We barely know him!”

“My, my, my, my, my…” he said. “So there’s a dastardly villain coming to steal all the smiles and the laughter from the world? And you five heroes are on a daring mission to stop him before it’s too late? Ooh, now that does sound fun!”

“And the dog,” Erik said.

“ _Sandy_ ,” Gemma said as she flipped her head back up.

“It’s incredibly sandy.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and then immediately regretted it because she was suddenly sure she could taste the _freaking sand_.

“What about _you_ , Sylvando?” Veronica asked. “What made you leave home and set out on the road?”

He smiled. “Ohh, you don’t want to hear my boring old stories. We’ve got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Come on, kiddies - beddy-byes!”

* * *

The Slayer of the Sands was _terrifying_.

Gemma had no idea how they would have gotten on without Sylvando’s help. The thing had been fast, with a lot of nasty tricks up its sleeve. She was fairly certain it would have killed her had he not been there, given how much trouble she was still having with her new weapons.

She didn’t get what the problem was with her. She knew _how_ to wield her axe but it wasn’t working right for whatever reason. Was it really just the weight difference? Or maybe she just wasn’t cut out for fighting.

“Ow!”

Erik’s shout broke through her thoughts. The party, on their way back to the city, had paused to take a breather and patch up wounds.

Serena frowned at him. “I’m doing the best I can but my mana reserves are nearly depleted right now, so we’re going to have to fix this the hard way.” She went back to rubbing salve on his arm. “Gemma, do we have any clean bandages?”

“Um, let me check.” She rifled through the supply bags. “We do but… there’s sand mixed in with just about all the supplies. This is going to be a pain to deal with...”

“How does the sand get _everywhere_ ?” Veronica asked as Gemma handed the roll of bandages to Serena. “Annoying as the heat is, I can sort of live with it. But _this_? What do you think, Sandy?”

Sandy, who had been lapping up a dish of water, paused to whine before returning to drinking the bowl’s entire contents.

“I think the Gallopolitans are just used to it,” El said, scrubbing the blade of his sword with a cloth. He paused, held it up, frowned, and then went back to scrubbing.

“We’re doing laundry again whenever we get a chance,” Gemma said. “Seems like the only way we’ll ever get the sand out of all our clothes.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. We need to be careful now that we know word’s already spreading about the whole Darkspawn mess, though.”

“Yeah, I’ve got no interest in going back to those dungeons,” Erik said as Serena finished tying the bandage around his arm. “Especially not now that my sentence has probably been upped from ‘life in prison’ to ‘hanging.’”

“They might also chop your head off.”

“Nah. I’m too much of a lowlife for beheading.”

“Can we… not have this discussion?” Gemma asked. “I don’t really like talking about how Heliodor’s gonna kill us.”

Erik pulled the sleeve of his shirt back down over his arm. “Sorry.”

“I think that’s all the patching up that we needed,” Serena said. “We’re good to go as soon as you give the word, El.”

El stood up and resheathed his sword. “Then let’s not waste time. The sooner we get back to the city, the sooner we get the Rainbough. And the sooner we can leave…”

* * *

After an incident involving the Slayer escaping its bonds and terrorizing the populace, Faris’ lies were exposed to the city, the Slayer was finally dead at the hands of Sylvando, and the party should have been able to get the Rainbough and continue on their way. Except, when Faris asked that they be given it, they learned that the Rainbough. Was _gone_.

Who the hell sold a national treasure to fund a horse race? Well, the Sultan of Gallopolis, apparently. And now they had to chase the merchant to Gondolia, which was a major port so _really_ he could have gone literally anywhere in Erdrea. In fact, he was probably long since gone.

Well, now they had Sylvando in the group, who had his own ship and plenty of money to add to their group fund, so the trip wasn’t a total bust.

Gemma hoped Gondolia was cooler than Gallopolis or Hotto had been. Maybe they’d even get lucky and the merchant would still be hanging out there for some reason. She _really_ needed a break.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sylvando joins the party! Even if he didn't really show up much in this chapter...
> 
> The last section WAS going to be a campsite scene to establish him in the group but absolutely nothing I tried ended up working, so I scrapped it. Just gonna have to wait until the next chapter to see Sylvando really get involved.

**Author's Note:**

> If you ever want to chat, you can hmu on Tumblr at purplespacefairy or twitter at rnarshmallo.


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